570 Peter the Hermit
There he studied the glosses of ANSELM OFLAONand
GILBERT OF POITIERS on the Psalms. He eventually
opposed the teaching of Gilbert at the Council of Rheims
in 1148. He was accepted at the monastery Saint-Victor
in PARISon the recommendation of BERNARD OFCLAIR-
VAUX; there he studied with HUGH OFSAINT-VICTOR. By
1145–47, he had received as a BENEFICEa canonry at
NOTRE-DAMEin Paris. He was ordained subdeacon in
1147, deacon in 1152, and priest and archdeacon in
1156 or 1157. From 1143 or 1144, he taught at the
cathedral school of Notre-Dame, until he was elected to
the office of bishop of Paris in 1159, but he died the
following year, on May 3, 1160, and was buried in the
church of Saint-Marcel.
WORKS: GLOSSES, A TEXTBOOK,
AND SERMONSPeter Lombard left several collections of glosses on
Scripture, 33 SERMONS, and a set of questions on the
Trinity, the incarnation, and SINSagainst the HOLYSPIRIT.
His most famous and important work was the Sententiae
in IV libris distinctae(Four Books of Sentences). Peter
Lombard asserted that he felt a need for a new organiza-
tion of theological teaching. In the prologue to his work
(1155–58), he stated that he wished to collect together
the sentences or opinions of the FATHERS OF THE CHURCH,
with supporting texts and new sources, for the masters
and students in the universities. The Sentences were
divided into books, distinctions, chapters, and articles
by the Franciscan Alexander of Hales (ca. 1185–1245),
who in 1223–27 was the first Parisian master to use
Lombard’s work as a basic teaching text. It remained the
basic text and reference source for theological studies
until the 16th century; nearly every theologian had
to write a commentary as a basic part of an advanced
theological education.
Lombard’s Sententiaeset the basic framework for
systematic theological study and laid the basis and
was a model for a synthesis of conflicting opinion. A
Scholastic treatise, it dealt with TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE,
creation, the Incarnation, REDEMPTION, the VIRTUES,
SIN, ANGELS, DEMONS, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the
commandments, DEATH, HEAVEN, HELL, the LASTJUDG-
MENT, and the SEVEN SACRAMENTS. Lombard sought to
bring the heritage of the learning of the past to bear on
contemporary doctrinal questions.
See also GLOSSAORDINARIA;SENTENCES.
Further reading:Marcia L. Colish, Peter Lombard
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994); G. R. Evans, ed., Mediaeval
Commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard: Current
Research(Leiden: Brill, 2002); Michael P. Malloy, Civil
Authority in Medieval Philosophy: Lombard, Aquinas, and
Bonaventure(Lanham, Md.: University Press of Amer-
ica, 1985); Elizabeth Frances Rogers, Peter Lombard and
the Sacramental System (Merrick, N.Y.: Richwood,
1976).
Peter the Hermit (ca. 1050–1115)French preacher
Peter the Hermit was a native of the Amiens region who
left his hermitage and began in 1096 to preach charis-
matically in Berry for the First CRUSADE. In April, he
set out from COLOGNE for JERUSALEM with perhaps
20,000 ill-trained and inadequately equipped compan-
ions. They attacked numerous Jewish communities on
the way. He was well received at CONSTANTINOPLEby
the emperor, ALEXIOSI. The troops with him, however,
pillaged the city. They were then transferred to ANAT O-
LIAbut largely annihilated in a battle by the SELJUK
TURKSnear NICAEA; survivors joined the main crusad-
ing army.
Peter was not with them. His role after that became
secondary. His prestige decreased sharply after his igno-
minious attempt to desert during the siege of ANTIOCHin
1097–98. After the capture of Jerusalem, he returned to
Europe and became prior at Saint Augustine at Neufmon-
tier in BELGIUM. He died there in 1115.
Further reading:Robert Chazan, European Jewry and
the First Crusade(Berkeley: University of California Press,
1987); Robert Chazan, In the Year 1096: The First Crusade
and the Jews(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society,
1996); John France, Victory in the East: A Military History
of the First Crusade(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1994); Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First crusaders,
1095–1131 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997); Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades.Vol.
1, The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of
Jerusalem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1951).Peter the Venerable (ca. 1092–1156)abbot of Cluny
Born about 1092 in central FRANCE, Peter was the son of
the noble Maurice II of Montboissier and his wife, Rain-
garde. Peter was first a BENEDICTINE oblate at Sauxil-
langes, but in 1109 he was professed as a monk at CLUNY.
He was instituted “doctor of the elders and guardian of
the order” at VÉZELAY, where he was prior between 1116
and 1120.
On August 22–23, 1122, Peter was elected abbot of
Cluny. With the monastery in disorder, he immediately
began a program of reform. In spring 1130, on his first
journey to ENGLAND, he took back gifts from King HENRY
I that gave him the resources to finish the construction of
the great church of Cluny. It was consecrated by Pope
Innocent II (r. 1130–43) on December 25, 1130. In
September 1130, Peter took a stand against the antipope,
Anacletus II (d. 1138). Until 1138 he made several jour-
neys to AQUITAINEto try to end this schism. In 1132 he
convened at Cluny the first general chapter of the congre-
gation, which ratified his proposals for reform and auster-
ity. These were confirmed by additional statutes of
1146–47 that reduced luxuries in food, dress, and display
within the order.